Human powered personal watercrafts are known and are popular for fishing and recreational activities. Depending upon the type of watercraft various forms of human powered devices may be used for propulsion. Oars, for example, are a commonly used with lightweight watercrafts such as pontoons, kayaks, canoes and the like. Oars can be cumbersome and difficult to operate depending on the type of watercraft and when engaged in certain activities such as fishing. As an example, when fishing at some point the watercraft will be headed in an undesirable direction while a fish is on the line at the same time, thereby require a user choose between handling the fishing rod or the oars.
In addition, oars are not suitable for use with certain watercraft such as fishing float tubes because float tube designs make operating oars nearly infeasible. Since oars are not particularly useful with fishing float tubes, foot worn flippers are most commonly used with this type of watercraft. While flippers generally work to propel a float tube, they have many drawbacks and disadvantages. For instance, flippers can only be used to propel the float tube in a single direction that is opposite from which the user is facing while seated on the float tube. Further flippers can be exhausting to use for extended periods and prolonged use can cause soft tissue injuries, such as, for example Illiotibial Band Syndrome as referred to as “Swimmer's Heel.” Divers and swimmers that use flippers can also develop soft tissue injuries.
Another human powered watercraft is paddle boat that generally includes two pedals that are operatively connected to one or more paddle wheels that are driven when a user drives the pedals in a rotary motion. Paddle boats are commonly used in short durations on calm water and are not particularly useful for fishing. In addition, the paddle wheel propulsion system is integrated into the paddle boat and cannot be removed and transferred to another watercraft type.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks and disadvantages in existing human driven water propulsion devices, a need exists for a new human driven propulsion device that is hands-free and can be easily attached to different types of watercrafts.